Straight Arrow Press

Last updated
Straight Arrow Press
StatusDefunct
Founded1967;58 years ago (1967) [1]
Founders Jann Wenner and Charles A. Reich
Defunct1993;32 years ago (1993)
SuccessorWenner Media
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters location(1967–1977) San Francisco, California
(1977–1993) New York City
DistributionWorld [2]
Key peopleAlan Rinzler [3]
Publication typesMagazines (1967–1993)
Books (1971–1975)
Nonfiction topicsMusic, Counterculture, Politics
Revenue$100 million (1993) [4]
Owner(s)Jann Wenner

Straight Arrow Press (Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.) was a publishing company that was known for the periodical Rolling Stone . [5] Originally based in San Francisco, Straight Arrow published a few other magazines as well as operating a book publishing division in the 1970s, featuring authors such as Oscar Zeta Acosta,Ann Charters, David Dalton, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kaysing, Hunter S. Thompson, Roger L. Simon, and the Firesign Theatre.

The book publishing division — which operated from 1971 to c. 1975 [5] [6] — was headed by Alan Rinzler, formerly an editor at Macmillan Inc. The company's first list was partly financed by "selling paperback rights to Bantam before the books were completed." [2]

The company moved from San Francisco to New York City in 1977. [7]

In addition to Rolling Stone, Straight Arrow's publication division published Outside (launched in 1977; sold to another company in 1979), [8] Us Weekly [9] (acquired, in partnership with Lorimar-Telepictures, from The New York Times Company in 1986), [4] Men's Journal (launched 1991), and Family Life (launched 1993). [4]

In 1993, Straight Arrow Press changed its name to Wenner Media. [4]

Book titles (selected)

References

  1. Weir, David (April 20, 1999). "Wenner's World: The evolution of Jann Wenner: How the ultimate '60s rock groupie built his fantasy into a media empire". Salon.
  2. 1 2 Collier, Peter (Feb 13, 1972). "For Fun and Profit in San Francisco". The New York Times.
  3. Lochte, Dick (May 22, 2000). "The second coming of Moses Wine; Roger L Simon's semiautobiographical novels about the edgy, radical sleuth are being reissued". Los Angeles Times.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rolling Stone Parent Takes A New Name". THE MEDIA BUSINESS. Nov 22, 1993. p. Section D, Page 14.
  5. 1 2 Gold, Herbert (April 4, 1976). "Letter From San Francisco". The New York Times. Straight Arrow Books, the publishing arm of Rolling Stone, closed down after trying to do very commercial books and not doing very commercial books.
  6. Anson, Robert Sam (December 10, 1970), "Rolling Stone, Part 2; Hunter Thompson Meets Fear and Loathing Face to Face", New Times
  7. Carlson, Peter (May 6, 2006). "News". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
  8. Pogrebin, Robin (October 27, 1997). "Outside Magazine Succeeds by Defying Categories". The New York Times . pp. D1, D13. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  9. "STRAIGHT ARROW MAY GET COMPETITION FOR US DEAL". Chicago Tribune . April 18, 1985.
  10. Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (August 22, 2004). "Look Back at Anger". The Observer . Retrieved January 8, 2008.